Discrete bubble modeling of unsteady cavitating flow

A discrete vapor bubble model is developed to simulate unsteady cavitating flows. In this model, the mixed vapor-liquid mixture is modeled as a system of pure phase domains (vapor and liquid) separated by free interfaces. On the phase boundary, a numerical solution for the phase transition is developed for compressible flows. This model is used to study the effect of cavitation bubbles on atomization, i.e., the breakup of a high-speed jet and spray formation. The major conclusion is that a multiscale (three-scale) model is sufficient to achieve agreement with quantitative macroscale flow parameters, such as spray opening angle and spray volume fraction or density, or as a qualitative measure, the occurrence of spray formation. The authors believe this to be the first numerical study of the atomization process at such a level of detail in modeling of the related physics.